Our jaws are getting smaller and our teeth crooked and crowded, creating not only aesthetic challenges but also difficulties with breathing. Modern orthodontics has persuaded us that braces and oral devices can correct these problems. While teeth can certainly be straightened, what about the underlying causes of this rapid shift in oral evolution and the health risks posed by obstructed airways?
Dr. Sandra Kahn created the GOPex Program (Good Oral Posture Exercises) with Dr. Simon Wong. This mobile app program is one of the tools Dr. Hobson uses to train her patients on restoring oral posture and airway health. Dr. Kahn is also an inventor of the Vacuum Activator, which is a device that allows the user to maintain negative pressure with a feedback system, working as a visual aid to know if the tongue is placed in the correct position. She has more inventions up her sleeve in the future. You can find her books and inventions at forwardontics.com.
Dr. Sandra Kahn D.D.D.S., M.S.D. is a graduate from the National University of Mexico (UNAM) and the University of the Pacific School of Dentistry in San Francisco, California. She began her work in orthodontics with a specialty in physical anthropology at the University of California in Berkeley focusing her studies on human craniofacial growth and development. After 22 years of clinical experience in orthodontics treating thousands of patients, Dr. Kahn was not satisfied with traditional orthodontics as a solution for treating her own children. In 2013, she retired from “traditional” orthodontics to focus in orthodontics related to a healthy airway, with a concentration on pediatric prevention of long-term Obstructive Sleep Apnea
Her approach is to treat the entire face and not just the teeth. Dr. Kahn has been invited to serve on craniofacial anomalies teams at both Stanford University and the University of California in San Francisco (UCSF). Dr. Kahn is an author and international lecturer on the topic of airway centric orthodontics. She is currently the only Diplomate of the American Board of Orthodontics that practices exclusively Biobloc Orthotropics and airway-centric orthodontics.
Dr. Jenny Hobson is a head and neck, TMJ physical therapist, protégé of renowned expert, Dr. Mariano Rocabado. She is known for her treatment of TMJ, sleep disordered breathing, chronic headaches, concussion, neck pain, tinnitus, and postural dysfunctions. Dr. Hobson is trained in myofunctional therapy and is certified in the Buteyko Breathing Method. She treats in-person in Chicago and trains breathing virtually to those in need in the US, Europe and South America through the Hobson Institute.
